Monthly Bulletin of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development
Number 13 (FEBRUARY 2010)
3rd ordinary session of the STC :
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proposals for the competitive fund projects assessed
ince the last ordinary session of the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC) held from 20 to 22 October 2009, important scientific and governance issues have cropped up. The STC members met in an extraordinary session from 14 to 16 January to discuss these issues. During the three-days meeting, the new STC members who were recruited during the ordinary session of October 2009 and the old members had a good interaction; the STC was informed of the progress made by the Executive Secretariat in the implementation of the recommendations from the last ordinary session; and a report written on the preparations towards the second Agricultural Science Week for West and Central Africa. Most of the meeting sessions were devoted to the evaluation of the proposals received for the competitive fund projects under the Staple Crops Programme.
The old and the new STC members interacted during the extraordinary session
Change Management :
three sessions for actors and partners
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ithin the framework of the implementation of the ongoing change management process within CORAF/WECARD, since January 2009, three training sessions were organized for the players and partners. Asession was organized for the STC members from 11 to 13 January 2010, the facilitators from the English-speaking countries of CORAF/WECARD from 18 to 22 January 2010 and the representatives of the Regional Economic Communities, the Private Sector and Producers organizations from 25 to 27 January 2010.
During these sessions, trainers from the IDLgroup , a team that supports CORAF/WECARD in the implementation of the change management process, shared with the participants the quintessence of the Strategic and Operational Plans of CORAF/WECARD.
Representatives of the Regional Economic Communities, the private sector and producers organizations in full session with the IDLgroup trainers.
These training sessions helped participants, whether they are players or partners, to understand the basic principles of the Strategic and Operational Plans and the need to change their manner of working with and for CORAF/WECARD.
The sessions were organized in the form of presentations and working groups led by a facilitator.
IFAD :
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The global platform of donors at the General Assembly
n 26 and 27 January 2010, the global platform of donors held its General Assembly at the headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, Italy. The global platform of donors for rural development is a mechanism of coordination of donors whose objective is to reduce poverty in the rural areas in the developing countries.
This platform works at improving and strengthening actions of coordination, communication and sharing of experiences among all development partners. It defines the common policies for donors, contributes to reducing duplication in donor support and advises the harmonization of agricultural development programmes.
During their General Assembly, the members of the platform shared information on the implementation of CAADP in 2009. They also reflected on a better approach for contributing toward agricultural development in Africa.
Rural land use : experts hold deliberations for better investment
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n international workshop for the development of investment in rural areas brought together experts from all over the world to Rome on 24 January.
For some years now, access to rural land has become problematic for the administrative authorities in developing countries. In some cases, the problem of access to land also involved the right to food because there is no agriculture in the rural areas if there is no land.
To propose lasting solutions, the experts met in Rome at the invitation of FAO to share experiences in the different ongoing global initiatives on the issue of rural land use and to strengthen the cooperation between the stakeholders to establish an information system. Dr. Abdulai Jalloh, Manager of the Natural Resource Programme, represented CORAF/WECARD at this important meeting.
IFPRI-CORAF/WECARD :
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the partnership to be strengthened
r. Ousmane Badiane, Africa Director of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) held a working session on 14th January 2010 with the Management of the Executive Secretariat of CORAF/WECARD. The two sides discussed the areas of cooperation between their two institutions.
CORAF/WECARD and IFPRI have been collaborating for many years in agricultural development in West and Central Africa. In the light of the new vision of CORAF/WECARD, with its new strategic and operational plans, it
is important to strengthen the partnership with IFPRI to help address the many challenges facing agriculture in West and Central Africa.
The Africa Director of IFPRI said he was happy with the significant progress made by CORAF/WECARD in recent years at the level of the coordination of research activities as well as at the governance level which inspires confidence in partners. New areas of cooperation will soon be defined and will be the subject of agreements to be signed between the two institutions.
CAADP :
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Improving the implementation of Pillar 4 in countries
n order to improve the implementation of Pillar 4 of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), a regional meeting was held in Rome, Italy from 28 to 29 January 2010. The implementation of Pillar 4 of the CAADP in Africa is under the leadership of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). It was the occasion to redefine the roles of each actor, the NGOs, extension services, producer organizations, researchers, agro-industrialists and decision-makers. The participants reviewed the level of responsibility at the continental, sub-regional and national levels. They concluded that for an enhanced implementation of the Pillar 4 of CAADP, workshops should be organized in the countries to create more awareness on the principles of the implementation framework of the CAADP which is the FAAP. Mechanisms for the involvement of the development partners must also be defined. CORAF/WECARD, whose strategic and operational plans were designed based on Pillar 4 of CAADP, was represented at the meeting by Dr. Harold Roy-Macauley, Programmes Director.
DONATA : the focal points in conclave in Ouagadougou After more than two years of implementation of the project for the extension of Agricultural Technologies in Africa (DONATA), the focal points in the CORAF/WECARD zone met in Ouagadougou from 22 to 25 January 2010 to take stock of the implementations of this project and especially to share experiences. The national focal points from Senegal, Burkina Faso, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Mali, as well as the regional focal points from CORAF/WECARD
took stock of the implementation of the activities under DONATA in the different countries.
The different aspects of the project, namely, technology transfer, platform creation, capacity building of researchers and the distribution of agricultural inputs were discussed in addition the participants shared experiences with each other. The major outlines of activities lined up for 2010 were also discussed.
Read CORAF ECHO the online bulletin of CORAF/WECARD. For any information to share, Please contact anatole.kone@coraf.org 2
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Livestock :
PSTADA :
Consultations towards relaunching the ITC
Coordination team Holds discussions with regional focal points
n order to relaunch and revitalize the activities of the International Trypanotolerance Centre (ITC), the management of this centre and those of CORAF/WECARD held a working session on 11 January 2010 at the headquarters of CORAF/WECARD. The International Typanotolerance Centre is a base centre of CORAF/WECARD based in The Gambia and is responsible for livestock development.
For some years now, this centre has not been operational due to lack of financial support from donors. The infrastructure is maintained by the Gambian Government which for some
time now is searching for funds to revitalize the centre to turn it into a centre of excellence for livestock.
Discussions between the leadership of CORAF/WECARD and the ITC centered mainly on the adoption of a research development strategy on livestock within CORAF/WECARD and its impact on the ITC and a joint CORAF/ITC mission to the ECOWAS Secretary. At the end of the discussions, the two parties agreed to establish a partnership to actually revive the activities of the ITC which used to be a leading centre in research into livestock diseases and development.
PPAAO : CORAF/WECARD holds talks with the World Bank to extend the project to other countries
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delegation from CORAF/WECARD led by its Executive Director, Dr. Paco Sereme, held a working session with a World Bank team to extend the West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program (WAAPP) to other countries. This took place in Washington from 20 to 24 January 2010.
The players and partners of the WAAPP, after analyzing the organization of the first phase covering Ghana, Senegal and Mali; have decided to extend the project to other countries during phase 2. The countries which are candidates have initiated the process that will enable them, at the end of the
day, to be included in phase 2 of the WAAPP. To date, it is Benin, Togo, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire which have advanced in the processes leading to their inclusion in phase 2 of the WAAPP.
In Washington, the CORAF/WECARD and the World Bank officials discussed the state of progress of each country in order to finalize the project document to be signed. Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Guinea, which are also candidates, are facing difficulties in putting their documents together. CORAF/WECARD and the World Bank are to provide technical support to these countries.
The coordination team for the Project for the Promotion of Science and Technology for Agricultural Development in Africa (PSTADA) at FARA held a working session with the regional focal points of CORAF/WECARD to take stock of the 2009 activities and to share with them the 2010 activity plan. This took place at the headquarters of CORAF/WECARD from 12 to 13 January 2010. Myra Wopereis Pura, the General Coordinator of PTSADA at FARA and her team made up of Dady Demby and Ifidon Samuel, held discussions with the CORAF/WECARD team in charge of managing the RAILS and DONATA projects.
The project for the Promotion of Science and Technology for Agricultural Development in Africa was result of a negociation between FARA and the African Development Bank on behalf of the SubRegional Organizations and CORAF/WECARD in West and Central Africa, ASARECA in East Africa and SADC in Southern Africa. This project with a six-year duration is made up of three components namely : (1) The Regional Agricultural Training and Information System, the Knowledge and Information Management System known under the acronym RAILS, (2) Extension of agricultural technologies and good practices commonly known as DONATA and (3) finally, Project Coordination and Management.
For two days, the two teams discussed the logical framework of the project, the state of implementation of the project, the formats for the technical and financial reports, activities planned for 2010 and the required budget. These discussions were aimed mainly at preparing for the mid-term review of the project that is scheduled for June 2010.
Abidjan, 3-5 February 2010 : Regional workshop on results and prospects of the implementations of the RAILS and DONATA projects in the
CORAF/WECARD zone.
Nairobi, Kenya, 2-5 February 2010 : Regional workshop on Strengthening Partnerships in agricultural research for development.
Tunis, 3-4 February 2010 : International Conference on the implementation of the strategy for management of agricultural statistics in Africa. Accra, 1-4 February 2010 : Workshop to establish a monitoring-evaluation system by FARA.
Banjul and Bamako, 14-20 February 2010 : Training workshops within the framework of SCARDA. Bamako, 16-18 February 2010 : Regional Forum on Agricultural Research.
Nigeria and Togo, 14-20 February 2010 : Follow up of the implementation of Yam Project.
Dakar, 22-26 February 2010 : Workshop on the regional framework for environmental and social management and the pesticides management plan
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Pleasure Outing : Staff of the Executive Secretariat enjoy themselves at Saly Portudal
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fter a year of hard work, the staff of the Executive Secretariat of CORAF/WECARD spent a weekend at Saly Portudal on the 30 and 31 January for a recretion which enabled families socialized within and among themselves. The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development’s Monthly Bulletin Director of publication Abubakar Yusufu
Director of Edition Paco Sérémé
Editor-in-Chief
Anatole Yékéminan Koné
Editing and Reading Committee Info / Com Department
Layout
Alassane DIA
On line publication Gorgui Alioune Mbow
A French version is available
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CORAF/WECARD, BP 48 Dakar RP CP 18523, Sénégal Tél. : (221) 33 869 96 18 Fax : (221) 33 869 96 31 E-mail : paco.sereme@coraf.org anatole.kone@coraf.org Internet : www.coraf.org